Malka's bid was accepted by the court after Rani Zim withdrew.

Avi Malka is on the way to ownership of Office Depot Israel. Malka's offer to buy the company's activity for NIS 43 million was accepted by the court today.

Malka, one of the owners of Retail Israel, currently holds fashion chains ML and Jump, having bought the latter after it encountered financial difficulties.

A spokesperson for Retail Israel said, "Malka will introduce new categories of activity into Office Depot, with an emphasis on technology and telecommunications. The plan is to bring Office Depot to recovery within a year, in a similar way to what he did with the Jump chain, and the aim is to continue to employ 100% of the chain's workers."

The court accepted Malka's proposal after Rani Zim, who together with his brother Adi sold control of the Kimat Chinam supermarket chain to Yeinot Bittan last July for NIS 265 million, dropped out of contention. Zim told "Globes" today that he withdrew from the bidding for Office Depot after Big Shopping Centers objected to renting to him branches of Office Depot in eight of its centers and demanded that he should vacate them immediately.